The Rainbow Connection: Looking Back at Initial, Critical Reaction to "The Wizard of Oz," in Celebration of the Film's 85th Anniversary

 

by Michael Lyons

 

It's difficult to believe that The Wizard of Oz, such an iconic part of our film history, pop culture, and zeitgeist for eight and a half decades, was once simply a new movie opening at a theater near you.

On August 25, 1939, MGM's big-screen adaptation of author L. Frank Baum's novel made its debut, telling the tale of Kansas girl Dorothy (Judy Garland), making her way down the yellow brick road with the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) to meet the Wizard (Frank Morgan), all while trying to stay away from the Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton).

The film blew into everyone's lives like a twister, leaving us with indelible images ("Surrender Dorothy"), lines of dialogue ("There's no Place Like Home," and songs by Harold Arlen and Edgar "Yip" Harburg, that have been memorized by generations and ranks as one of the best musical scores in movie history.

The legacy of The Wizard of Oz is unparalleled. It is one of those rare, beloved parts of growing up passed on through generations. But what did movie critics initially think of the film?

In celebration of the 85th (wow!) anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, here are some snippets of reviews from when the film first debuted:  

John C. Flint, Sr., Variety 

"Nothing comparable has come out of Hollywood in the past few years to approximate the lavish scale of this film musical extravaganza, in the making of which the ingenuity and inventiveness of technical forces were employed without stint of effort or cost. Except for opening and closing stretches of prolog and epilog, which are visioned in a rich sepia, the greater portion of the film is in Technicolor. Some of the scenic passages are so beautiful in design and composition as to stir audiences by their sheer unfoldment."

Russell Maloney, The New Yorker

"Fantasy is still Walt Disney’s undisputed domain. Nobody else can tell a fairy tale with his clarity of imagination, his simple good taste, or his technical ingenuity. This was forcibly borne in on me as I sat cringing before M-G-M’s Technicolor production of “The Wizard of Oz,” which displays no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity."

The Hollywood Reporter

The Wizard of Oz will beyond question, be accorded recognition as a milestone in motion picture history. It scintillates with artistry, yet it possesses such an abundance of qualities which predict broad audience success that there can be no question of its being headed for spectacular playing time and grosses."

Newsweek

"Produced by Mervyn LeRoy and directed by Victor Fleming, The Wizard of Oz was two busy years in the making. Magnificent sets and costumes, vivid Technicolor, and every resource of trick photography – including a realistically contrived cyclone – bolster the competent cast that strikes a happy medium between humor and make-believe. The more fanatic Ozophiles may dispute M-G-M's remodeling of the story, but the average movie-goer – adult or adolescent – will find it novel and richly satisfying to the eye."

Otis Ferguson, The New Republic 

“It has dwarfs, music, technicolor, freak characters and Judy Garland. It can’t be expected to have a sense of humor as well — and as for the light touch of fantasy, it weighs like a pound of fruitcake soaking wet.”

Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times

"Not since Disney's "Snow White" has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well. A fairy book tale has been told in the fairy book style, with witches, goblins, pixies, and other wondrous things drawn in the brightest colors and set cavorting to a merry little score. It is all so well-intentioned, so genial, and so gay that any reviewer who would look down his nose at the fun-making should be spanked and sent off, supperless, to bed."

 

Check out more of my articles, podcasts and order signed copies of both of my books, Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance and Magic Moments: Stories, Lessons and Memories from a Twenty-Year Career at Disney at my website, Words From Lyons !

 

Funny Thing About This Humidity : Comedies Set During a Heat Wave

 by Michael Lyons

The Hottest day on Earth. That's what scientists at NASA declared on July 22, 2024.

Of course, that title seems to be granted to a different date every summer recently. It's been a sweltering summer, and even though kids are starting to head back to school, and pumpkin spice flavored everything is on the horizon, this summer doesn't seem to be turning down the heat.

So, as your air conditioner chugs along and your electric bill continues to rise with the temperature, here are some movie comedies, each set during a heat wave and the perfect antidote to the exasperating weather.

 

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Director Billy Wilder's classic film, with Marilyn Monroe's iconic scene where her dress billows up, thanks to a subway grate, all takes place during the crippling heat of a Manhattan summer.

Tom Ewell plays Richard Sherman, a publisher whose wife and son leave the city for Maine to escape the heat. As he enjoys his newfound "bachelor life," Sherman finds himself attracted to one of his neighbors (Monroe). Although a fantasy, Sherman is comically tortured about what this may mean to his marriage.

Not just a classic comedy, The Seven Year Itch captures New York City at a time when the only escape from summer was to head into an air-conditioned theater to see Creature From The Black Lagoon.

 

The Odd Couple (1968)

The film adaptation of Neil Simon's brilliant play about mismatched roommates, slovenly Oscar (Walter Matthau) and neat-freak Felix (Jack Lemmon), also takes place in New York City during the heat of the summer.

From the opening scene of a poker game, played in Oscar's stifling apartment where the air conditioner is broken, to a hilarious scene at a New York Mets game, and the couple's argument on the roof of their apartment, as the haze of the hot city stands behind them, this is a brilliant comedy against the backdrop of a hot summer.

 

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

Another Neil Simon comedy, this one starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, as empty nesters who find their lives at a crossroad while trying to live in their tiny New York apartment (where Lemmon's character suffers a nervous breakdown).

From wall unit air conditioners that are too cold to a garbage workers strike that's made the stifling streets even worse, the hysterical comedy boils over here like the summer heat itself.

 

Biloxi Blues  (1988)

Guess what? It is another Neil Simon comedy (he had a gift for laughter during a heat wave).

In this semi-autobiographical story (based on Simon's play), Matthew Broderick plays Eugene, a young New Yorker drafted during World War II who tangles with his Sergeant (Christopher Walken, brilliant as always) during basic training.

And that basic training is in Biloxi, Mississippi, in the middle of summer. As Eugene observes, "Man, it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot."

 

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

During a heat wave during in summer of 1981, a group of counselors at Camp Firewood try to tie up loose ends on the last day of camp while preparing for their big talent show, in a send-up of the teen sex comedies of the 80s.

With an amazing ensemble cast including Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks, among others, director David Wain's comedy has rightly developed quite the following since its initial release twenty-three years ago, spawning a series of Netflix shows, as well as a sequel. 

 

So, there you have it, just a brief list of heat wave comedies. And don't stress about the summer weather. Before you know it, you'll be complaining about how cold it is.

Stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning with one, or both, of my books, which are available at Words From Lyons where they can be signed and personalized!